As the sun set on Tuesday night, American Jews turned off their phones in anticipation of the last two days of Passover, while news had started to spread of an impending ceasefire in America’s war against Iran. The attention of those observing the holiday would be turned to the theme of those last days, the miraculous events of the Splitting of the Sea, a phenomenon that tradition maintains was more glorious and memorable than the Exodus itself, to which the holiday as a whole is devoted and which dominates the discussion at the Seder table.

The Splitting of the Sea has a complex expression in Jewish practice. While its miraculous nature is given great focus and appreciation, the Hallel prayer of gratitude is actually abbreviated for the second part of the festival. One traditional explanation correlates this to a statement in the Talmud that describes God silencing his ministering angels who wanted to sing praises to him on this occasion. “My creations, the Egyptians, are drowning in the sea”. He admonishes, “How can you sing at this moment?” (Sanhedrin 39b, Megillah 10b).

The nuanced attitude is adopted by the people. They do sing, a song for the ages that is incorporated into the daily liturgy; and tradition, picking up on the future-tense formation of the verb yashir, teaches that it is a song that will endure into the messianic age (Sanhedrin 91b), when even the Exodus may be overshadowed (Berakhot 12b). Yet, it is also true that the Hallel that is recited on the festival that commemorates this event is abbreviated. The suffering of human beings, even of hardened enemies, is acknowledged and incorporated into the structure of celebration, a reflection of the fact that, as the Talmud stresses, God does not rejoice in the downfall of His creatures and neither should Man.

The balance of emotions that is incorporated into the Song of the Sea........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)